By now you’ve sure seen one, or dozens of the videos of celebrities taking the “Strike out ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

It’s a bracing, funny, clever and, so far, very effective means of raising money to combat ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” which is defined as a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The disease causes the degeneration of the motor neurons that go from the brain to the spinal cord and to the muscles throughout the body, eventually causing loss of muscle control, paralysis and death.

Fifteen new cases of the disease are diagnosed in the U.S. every day and the Ice Bucket Challenge — in which the dunkee pours a bucket of ice water on their head and then challenges others to do the same within 24 hours or make a donation to fight ALS, or both — has shined a light on the disease that currently has no cure.

But whose idea was it? Well, according to the Los Angeles Times, it was the brainchild of 29-year-old ALS patient Peter Frates. The former captain of the Boston College baseball team drew inspiration from one of that club’s post-game rituals and challenged some local athletes on Twitter to get iced. The first reported challenge took place on July 15 and, once the Beverly, Massachusetts, Frates, his family and friends started challenging each ...

After days of protests and questions about what preceded the deadly police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri, officials finally revealed on Friday morning (August 15) the identity of the officer who killed the teen on Saturday.

Police said six-year force veteran Darren Wilson was the man who shot Brown several times. Though police Chief Thomas Jackson did not answer any questions about Wilson, he did say that the officer did not have any disciplinary issues. Protesters who have gathered in Ferguson nightly since the shooting had been demanding to know the name of the officer involved, as well as details of the shooting and an explanation for why Brown’s body reportedly lay in the street for several hours after the incident.

Related: A Timeline Of The Michael Brown Shooting

But it was the other information officially revealed on Friday that added a dramatic new wrinkle to the story. According to Ferguson police, just before the shooting, Wilson responded to a call about a strong-arm robbery — one using physical force but not a weapon — at a nearby convenience store. The suspect was described as a “black male in a white T-shirt,” and a store employee said the man had taken a box of cigars (worth less than $50) and pushed the employee on his way out the door.

Store surveillance stills show a young man in a red Cardinals baseball cap, khaki shorts and a white T-shirt confronting a store clerk. The report also states that another ...

We’ve seen Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Ansel Elgort and countless other celebrities take the “Strike out ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

But one bucket is so last week. When Demi Lovato stepped up to the plate, she took on not one, not two, not four buckets, but FIVE BUCKETS!! After bravely running the gauntlet, Demi issued a handful of challenges to five other celebs: Christina Perri, Jonas Brothers guitarist John Lloyd Taylor, JoBros manager Phil McIntyre, actress and half-sister Madison De La Garza and Wilmer Valderrama.

And here’s the thing: It’s working. Since July 29, the movement has raised more than $5.5 million for the ALS Association, compared to the $32,000 raised during the same period last year.

Here are our 17 other favorite celeb challenges:

1. Emmy Rossum

2. Elizabeth Banks

3. Jimmy Fallon, the Roots, Rob Riggle, Horatio Sanz and Steve Higgins

4. Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Carson Daly

5. Lance Bass

6. Pretty Little Liars’ Sasha Pieterse

7. All These NFL Players And Coaches

8. Matt Lauer

9. Keith Urban

10. Johnny Weir

11. Mario Lopez

12. Nick Lachey

13. Andy Cohen

Gil Kaufman

Often guilty, never convicted. Serving 15 years to life at MTV News.

After five days of sometimes intense protests in Ferguson, Missouri, Thursday night saw the memory of shooting victim Michael Brown honored in nearly 100 cities during peaceful vigils from New York to St. Louis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Orlando. In a nationwide event organized by blogger Feminista Jones around the #NMOS14 hashtag (national moment of silence), protesters gathered and bowed their heads while remembering the unarmed 18-year-old who was shot multiple times and killed by a police officer on Saturday in an incident that has gained global attention.

One of the most re-tweeted images from the evening was of a huge crowd gathered in New York’s Times Square, which was posted by everyone from Diddy to Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and Macklemore. Following days of clashes between heavily armed police and protesters in Ferguson, Thursday night brought a calm to the St. Louis suburb after the state highway patrol came in to take over security following days of tension between angry Ferguson citizens, the media and local police. Replacing the disturbing sight of police dispersing crowds with tear gas and force were images of state patrol officers walking peacefully with the protesters.

Related: A Timeline Of The Michael Brown Shooting

Friday (August 15) is also expected to produce a major revelation in the case when the name of the officer who shot Brown is released. Along with more details on what precipitated the shooting of Brown, the teen’s family and supporters have ...

For the fifth night in a row, the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, were aflame on Wednesday night as angry citizens battled police over frustrations about the shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown.

Citing safety risks, officials have declined to name the officer who fired the deadly barrage of bullets that killed the 18-year-old or offer details about events leading up to the shooting. Against that backdrop, protesters took to the streets again and faced off against officers in tactical gear who were armed with what was described as “high-caliber automatic weapons” briefly aimed at the crowd.

Getty Images News/Scott Olson

Despite requests from police to disperse before sundown, CNN reported that photographers captured images of young men lighting Molotov cocktails as well as crowd-control stun grenades that had been detonated in the street. At one point during the night, police used sonic cannons and fired tear gas canisters at a crowd huddled around a gas station that has become a nightly gathering point for the protests. With guns raised, the officers reportedly warned the protesters to turn back, marching slowly in riot gear toward the gas station and ordering the crowd, and some reporters, to turn off their cameras.

Getty Images News/Scott Olson

Reporters Detained
Two reporters covering the unrest were detained earlier in the day at a McDonald’s after reportedly failing ...

She’s 13, likes apricots, collecting Band-Aids, building popsicle stick castles by herself, Scuncis, chilling, drawing Pegacorns (that’s a pegasus and a unicorn hybrid she made up) and wearing Scrabble name necklaces. She’s Natalie Benson and she’s.. EWWW!!!

After teasing her glasses-wearing, brace-face alter-ego Natalie last week, Taylor Swift finally joined “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon (we mean Sara, with no H, because h’s are EWWWW!!!!) on “EW!” Wednesday night. She showed off her drawings, danced to Selena Gomez’s “Come & Get It” and revealed that she thinks yield signs, airplane mode, rice pudding and getting back together are EWW!

Gil Kaufman

Often guilty, never convicted. Serving 15 years to life at MTV News.

It’s official: Justin Bieber will have to enroll in anger-management courses as a result of a plea deal in his Miami DUI case. Though the singer did not have to appear in court on Wednesday, Justin’s lawyers announced a deal with prosecutors to spare the star any jail time in the case.

CNN reported that Bieber, 20, made a $50,000 donation to the “Our Kids” charity, agreed to get 12 hours of private anger-management counseling and attend a program that teaches about the impact of drunken driving on victims as part of the plea deal. In exchange, a judge accepted Beiber’s guilty plea to misdemeanor counts of careless driving and resisting arrest during an incident in January where police said they suspected the star was intoxicated after they pulled him over for speeding down a residential Miami Beach street.

Though Justin was not in the courtroom, Judge William Altfield delivered a lecture that he hoped Bieber’s lawyers would pass on. “I hope that he realizes that his actions not only lead to consequences that affect him, but they lead to consequences that affect others who are looking up to him as a role model,” Altfield said.

CNN also noted that despite the fact that Bieber’s never been charged with a felony crime or drug charge and never been in rehab, Altfield compared him to Robert Downey Jr., who struggled with substance abuse and wild behavior in his younger days. Altfield said Downey got into trouble, “because of ...

When Kanye West and Kim Kardashian walked down the aisle in May, there were a few people who were conspicuously absent from the wedding, and one of them was brother Rob Kardashian.

At the time, there was rampant speculation over why Rob was touching down at LAX at the same time wedding bells were ringing, but now we finally have the answer.

During an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live” on Tuesday night, Kim revealed that Rob left France before she said “I do” without even telling her he was splitting.

“He sent me a long email the morning of, that he was going to leave. There was no fight,” Kim said after host Andy Cohen asked if the siblings had reconciled following their alleged falling out.

“I just thought, ‘You know what, this is my day, I’m not even going to worry about it,’” Kim said. “I totally understand that he wouldn’t want to see a lot of people if he was feeling uncomfortable and you can only pray and wish that someone would not miss out on more memories in life, because life is about memories.”

Kim said she empathized with Rob over his issues, but that she’s kind of a hard nose when it comes to making changes. “My brother and I are so close, he’s one of my best friends,” she said. “I’m definitely a tough love kind of person. If I don’t like something that’s going on in my life, I change ...

Justin Bieber may be able to breathe a little easier today. The singer is reportedly due to accept a plea deal in his Miami DUI case on Wednesday (August 13) that will spare him jail time and bump down his charges to a pair of misdemeanors.

According to the Miami Herald, lawyers for Justin will appear in Miami criminal court to accept the deal in the case, which was spawned seven months ago when Bieber was arrested in South Beach for driving under the influence after police said he was racing a rented luxury car at high speeds through a residential neighborhood.

In exchange for a guilty plea for careless driving and resisting an officer without violence, prosecutors have reportedly agreed to drop the DUI charge. In addition to a privately managed 12-hour anger-management course, Bieber will also have to watch online video about real-life, tragic DUI cases, pay court fines and make a $50,000 charitable donation.

As you might recall, in January Miami Beach police arrested Bieber and friend Khalil Sharieff after the pair allegedly drag-raced their rented cars down a residential street that had been blocked off by the singer’s security detail. Bieber, 20, told police that he had been smoking marijuana and had taken prescription medication that day, with a urine screen testing positive for pot and Xanax.

Though he was not charged with drag racing, police said the sound of high-end vehicles revving their engines from 0-40 m.p.h. on a residential street at 4 ...

Chicago, IL — It’s the summer of OutKast, so it was fitting that Andre 3000 and Big Boi celebrated their latest festival comeback gig with a massive fireworks display on Saturday night (August 2) at Lollapalooza. The dynamic ATL duo brought the old-school funkdafied flavor to their headlining set, serving up plenty of classics as a massive bloom of fireworks exploded behind them during “Ms. Jackson.”

They were just the topper on a day of musical treats, weird scenes and awesome covers at the weekend party by the lake. Here are some of our favorite moments:

Related: Check Out Eminem’s Surprise Lollapalooza Guest Rihanna

Stank You Very Much
During a hyped set that included such classics as opener “B.O.B.,” “Gasoline Dreams,” “The Way You Move,” “Hey Ya!” and a deeply funk “She Lives In My Lap,” Andre did not disappoint, with a jumpsuit that read “Across Cultures, Dark People Suffer Most. Why?”

MTV News/Gil Kaufman

Nas, Still Ill
Mr. Jones came out swinging a bottle of brown liquor in one hand and the mic in the other, stalking through the throwback anniversary setlist from his 1994 debut, Illmatic. The crowd was right with him on “Life’s a Bitch,” “The World is Yours” and “One Time 4 Your Mind.”

MTV News/Gil Kaufman

Related: The Only Lollapalooza Playlist You Need

Captain America!
Because. That’s why.

Rich Homie Quan Had You…
Feelin’ some “Type of Way.”

MTV News/Gil Kaufman

Conan The Bro-Barians
These dudes spilled red ...